ABSTRACT

In this attempt to investigate the effect the activities of respiratory complex II in the liver of normal and protein undernourished male weaning rats fed with diets containing coconut oil twenty rats were used. They were grouped into four (5 rats in each and fed with normal diets, low protein diets containing 5% casein, normal with coconut oil substituting to vegetable oil and low protein with coconut oil­).

After feeding for six weeks the rats were sacrificed using cervical dislocation. The liver was harvested and homogenized in iced cold buffer and centrifuged at 4000rpm for 15 minutes at 4oC. The pellets were discarded and the supernatant was stored. Further analysis explained later in this work was carried out on this supernatant. The result of this of this analysis showed a significant weight gain in the group fed with normal diet regarded as the control, while in the group fed with low protein diet contain 5% casein had a stunted growth. Thus the group containing coconut oil with the diets in their appropriate proportion experienced a little growth deficiency while a very drastic growth was noticed in the group fed with low protein with coconut oil.